Elevators that grow with a building

A first for the Netherlands. The imposing Grotius residential towers being built in The Hague both use Schindler CLIMB Liften™. Unlike a construction elevator, these elevators are located inside the building and can grow with the construction of both towers. 

"Using traditional construction elevators causes an awful lot of delays during construction," says product manager Maarten Bijl. "Groups of construction workers have to wait downstairs until they can go up. Because construction elevators are relatively slow, it happens on high-rise projects that workmen stand waiting for 45 minutes to an hour. Added together, these are many lost hours, which are a huge cost." The construction elevator rises or falls about 0.5 meters per second, while the Schindler CLIMB Lift™ travels 3 meters in that time. 

Construction elevators obsolete

Elevators in most high-rise projects are not installed until the highest floor is reached. The Schindler CLIMB Lift™ principle works differently. Here it is possible to install the elevators at an early stage. They then grow with the building. Grotius is the first Dutch project in which the Schindler CLIMB Lifts™ are applied, in close consultation with the construction combination of BESIX and J.P. van Eesteren. Wilfred Looman, project manager at Schindler Liften: "Together with BESIX and J.P. van Eesteren, we have also successfully realized several high-rise projects in the past, but here we integrated the elevators only when the highest floor was reached." 

In a weekend a higher elevator

So now, in the prestigious Hague project, Schindler CLIMB Lifts™ have been chosen, which are already installed when the 14th floor is reached. "This principle is already widely used abroad. We use a temporary machine platform with a steel roof, which is built above the elevator and placed several floors higher each time. That way we can just continue working above it." Once five floors are added, the elevators will also be pulled up. This is done over a weekend and the inspection also takes place then, so that work can continue as usual on Monday. Bijl: "The elevators allow for more efficient and faster construction, with more ease. Also, this solution is safer."

Project Grotius is still in full swing. Looman: "While in one of the residential towers one can already rise all the way to the top, in the other tower we are still working on the realization of final elevators. By the end of this year, all elevator systems in the buildings should be completely finished." When a project like Grotius is completely finished, the elevators receive their interiors and continue to serve as elevators for the users.